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FWC: NED v JPN from 7am, SN ExtraThe racing industry farewells a Champion
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • June 14th, 2026 4:04 pm
Champion jumper West Coast | Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
The racing industry is in mourning after the passing of a true champion in West Coast following a race fall in the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.
The revered jumper was immediately attended to by a veterinarian and Horse Ambulance, with the gelding found to have suffered a suspected fractured shoulder and he was subsequently humanely euthanised, while jockey Joshua Parker went to Waikato Hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.
It was a sad end to an extraordinary career, with the Mark Oulaghan-trained gelding capturing the imagination of racing fans with his unmatched jumping ability and trademark strong finishes.
Bred by Nigel and Adaire Auret of Letham Stud, West Coast was initially trained by their son Hamish, for whom he had two unplaced starts before he was purchased by Oulaghan.
The Awapuni trainer showed his patience in the following two years, with West Coast posting seven placings before breaking through for his first win in a maiden steeplechase at Hawke’s Bay, with Shaun Fannin in the saddle, and the pair would go on to form a formidable partnership.
West Coast won a further 12 races over the following four years, 11 of those with Fannin, including a record three editions of the Grand National Steeplechase (5600m), two editions of the Great Northern Steeplechase (6500m), Wellington Steeplechase (5500m) and Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m).
His deeds on the track would secure him the New Zealand Champion Jumper crown for three consecutive seasons, with his earnings reaching north of $641,000.
Fannin, whose partnership with West Coast ended last year when he was committed to ride his own jumper Jesko, followed by his retirement from jumps riding, said West Coast was a horse of a lifetime and he was devastated by the news of his passing.
“We had a great partnership over a number of years,” Fannin said. “He was the greatest horse I ever rode, he was just a true champion.
“It is gutting to go out that sort of way. It is an extreme low of the sport, and he gave us so many incredible highs.”
A natural jumper, Fannin said West Coast did have some early quirks, but they were ironed out over time by the expert hand of his trainer.
“He was a very big, strong horse, and a very good jumper,” Fannin said.
“In the early days, he used to get wound up in the barriers and he used to jump out of them and be quite fierce. He used to want to go a bit hard early, but as he got older, Mark and his team had done a lot of work on teaching him to settle properly, and that was a big key to him.
“The more racing that he had he just got better and better.”
Fannin said he first heard about West Coast through his friend Tim Johnson, and he was pleased he followed his mate’s advice and approached Oulaghan about the ride early on in West Coast’s career.
“Right back when he first started jumping, a friend here at Awapuni, Tim Johnson, was was working for Mark and he had said that he thought this horse was really good,” Fannin said.
“At the time I was riding for Kevin Myers, and I watched his first couple of hurdle races and he went really well. I reached out to Mark and said I would love to ride this horse, and it went from there.”
West Coast would go on to become a trailblazer, and while he had plenty of highlights, Fannin singles out his victory in the 2023 Great Northern Steeplechase as his most memorable win.
“The third National, which had never been done before, was great but probably his first Northern win (would be the highlight),” Fannin said. “It was deemed as the big clash between the two champions at the time – The Cossack and West Coast – and the two of them fought it out. I think he won it with his jump at the last, he outjumped The Cossack at the last fence, and it was very special to see two horses going to war like that and luckily we came out on top.”
Fannin said West Coast’s biggest attribute was his superior jumping ability, which told in several of his major wins.
“He was such a wonderful jumper, that was probably the biggest key to him,” Fannin said. “At the end of all those very big races he used to make up so much ground at the fences that when other horses were getting tired, he just used to out jump them and be able to keep going.
“At the end of those long distances with such big weights, he would just keep coming up every time, he was an incredible horse.”
Fannin’s training operation has become his major focus in recent years, but his reverence for West Coast was showcased when the Palmerston North horseman elected to extend his riding career to continue their partnership.
“My priorities started to change into the training side of things and I had started slowing down (riding) as he came along,” Fannin said. “I would have definitely slowed up a lot quicker if he hadn’t been there, he is a once in a lifetime sort of horse, so he kept me going a lot longer than I probably would have.”
West Coast’s passing will be felt by many, but he has left a legacy that will be cherished for years to come.
“I will always have some very special memories of him,” Fannin said.
